The Daily bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Hawaii]) 1882-1895, 1887-02-21
JOSS NOT YET AHEAD.

EDITOR DuLLETIN .-OuE Scillul
friend of the u. e. 1duertiser in his
issue of the 10Th seems to be gently
exercised about the Fascination to
many minds of the hopeless task of
proselyting the teeming millions of
China Many in Honolulu have
lately listened to the statements and
appeals of the gifted and brilliant
missionary Arthur II. Smith of North
China, and feel the task anything
but hopeless. Since all branches of
the Christian Church from Wesleyan
to Roman Catholic, are enthusiastic
ally active and hopeful in the great
task of bringing the Chinese Empire
under the light and Transforming
power of the Redeemcr, it Is just
possible that it is not really so hope
less as superficial and either in
different or antipathetic inspection
by commercial foreign observers
may pronounce it to be.
Our friend pays an emphatic tri-
butte to the success and value OF the
work of Christian missionaries in
these islands, but thinks that it is
threatened with extinction by the
great Chinese invasion Of heathen-
ism, and that this Chinese assault
upon Hawaiian Christianity is ut
terly ignored by the advocates of
missions to China. He will be glad
to be informed of what is abund-
antly stated in our local missionary
papers and reports, that this source
of peril is fully observed, but that
our Christianity is being made more
and more aggressive for the conver-
sion of Chinese in Hawaii, under
conditions far more favorable than
in China, or in any other country to
which they have emigrated, and
with growing success.
A very interesting feature of this
work is the presence here of per-
haps two hundred Christian Chinese
immigrants converted at home, who
are full of faith and good works
also the existence of large numbers
of Chinese converted here, many of
them by the efforts Of our native
pastors. This does not look much
like "hopeless task"
The debauching of native females
by Chinese is indeed IN enormous
evil. 1t is only greater than that
practised by white men, as the num-
ber of Chinese are greater. l think
it true that Cinnamon who are mar
ricd to Hawaiian wives care for them
more diligently and successfully
than white men generally do.
AS to any "social and re-
ligious supremacy attained by
Chinese in this country" or
likely to be attained, our friend 5
Imagination must have got upon a
wild ramble, and the "varied forms
ofmoral and religious activity among
our people" are probably not so
misplaced and nullitied as he sur
misses. The almost incredible treat
ment lately accorded here to a
wealthy Chinaman does not look
much like his race having yet ap-
proximated to "social supremacy"
] think no such indignity would
have been ventured on towards any
white man of similar relative posi-
ton, or even TO Hawaiian,
Iknow little about Chinese "Joss"
worship: l suppose it to be propitia-
tory of irritable and ill-disposed
spirits or deities, and little above
the grosser kinds of paganism. But
it must be q lack of discrimination
to call it "as debased a form OF
idolatry" as that of Hawaiians
seventy years ago. JOss-worship
can hardly include those dark and
malignant factors of murderous and
paralyzing sorcery, of human sacri-
fees, Of cruel and crampinS hapus,
and especially of lecherous, poison
Gus hulaS, which characterized
Polynesian paganism, and made IT,,
although not one Of the most cruel,
yet one of the more polluting and
degrading forms of polytheism.
| Chinese idols are GROSS enOuOh. hut